Sunday drinking banned in Wales
The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the Licensing Acts 1828 to 1886. It required the closure of all public houses in Wales on Sundays. The Act had considerable political importance as a formal acknowledgement of the separate character of Wales, setting a precedent for future legislation and decisions. The Act stood for 80 years.
The Act was passed on 27th August 1881. The provision within the Act stated that the act would come into force, for each borough, on the day of "the next General Annual Licensing Meeting". Therefore if the borough in question held their General Annual Licensing Meeting on 20th August 1881 then that borough could keep its hotels, pubs and beer houses open on a Sunday until their next meeting on or about 20th August 1882.
There was a way to circumnavigate the Act. It was called the ' bona fide traveller' clause. Any person being more than 3 miles from his last sleeping bed could acquire a drink on a Sunday. That is to say, the act did not allow this privilege to a person or persons who walked 3 miles just to get a drink but if you were out for a Sunday walk to admire the scenery then you could as a law abiding citizen buy a drink on the Sabbath. But how a wayfaring man was to prove that he is travelling for some purpose other than that of obtaining intoxicating liquor is a moot point. He can only assert the fact, and unless he is a notorious drunkard, both the publican and the magistrate are bound to believe him.
North and South Wales Independent - 22 March 1889
A BURNING QUESTION. - HAS THE SUNDAY CLOSING ACT PROVED A FAILURE
THE TESTIMONY OF THOSE WHO KNOW THE FACTS.
As is now well known, a strenuous effort has been made by the Western Mail, a Conservative daily paper published at Cardiff, to demonstrate that in certain districts of Glamorganshire and Carmarthenshire, and inferentially throughout Wales, the Sunday Closing Act has been a failure. In order to ascertain the facts more fully as regards the Principality at large, we issued a schedule of questions, and addressed a copy to a large number of mayors, magistrates, county councillors, chairmen of local boards, medical men, ministers of religion, police officers, and hotel-keepers, asking them to be good enough to favour us with their testimony. We scarcely need observe that in selecting the gentlemen to whom the circulars were sent, we took no count of political colour or religion persuasion.
THE QUESTIONS.
1. Is there a low quarter inhabited by foreigners in your town?
2. Is the town frequented by large numbers of tourists who
take country drives on Sunday?
3. Is the town near enough to the border to enable the people to get drink on Sunday in the English public-houses; and if so, do people avail themselves of the situation?
4. Were there any clubs, established for drinking purposes, before the passing of the Sunday Closing Act? If so, how many?
5. Are there any such clubs now?
6. If so, how many, and to what extent are they supported? Give an estimate of the number of members.
7. Are there any houses where the illicit sale of drink is believed to be carried on habitually? If so, how many?
8. Do any inhabitants of your district make a practice of availing themselves of the bona-fide traveller clause?
9. Have you strangers visiting you with a like object?
10. What encouragement or discouragement have the magistrates given to the police in prosecutions under the Act?
11. What was the character of your district as regards Sunday drinking before the passing of the Act?
12. Is Sunday better observed and religious services better attended since the passing of the Act?
13. Is there much drink sold on Saturday nights for Sunday consumption?
14. Have there been any convictions arising from such cases?
15. Has drinking at home increased since the passing of the Act?
16. How is the Act regarded generally by the working classes?
17. What is the attitude of the publicans towards the Act; and would they support a repeal of it, or not?
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KNIGHTON. From Mr. W A Collins, Clerk to the local board.
No
No
Knighton is on the border, but there is no public house within about 5 miles, and these are not visited on Sunday's by Knighton People.
No
No
No
No
Not to my knowledge
Not to my knowledge
There have been no prosecutions
There was not much Sunday drinking, and no drunkenness.
No
I cannot say.
No.
I cannot say.
They seem satisfied with it.
I believe a majority is in favour of Sunday opening, but there are certainly some favourable to the Act.
The Act was repealed through the Licensing Act 1961, which allowed local authorities in Wales to hold polls of their residents on the continuation of the ban. By 1996 all local government areas except Dwyfor in north west Wales (now part of Gwynedd) had voted in favour of opening licensed premises on Sundays, and that year changes in local government boundaries resulted in the removal of the last ban. The requirement for regular polls on Sunday opening in Wales was abolished in 2003
W. A. Collins = William Abley Collins. b. 1855 in Knighton. Living at Brynterion, Presteigne Road. He was a Chartered Accountant.
William married Amy Maxwell Jerman in the Newtown area in 1884
William died on 1st December 1920 aged 64 years and was buried in Knighton old cemetery on 4th December.
Probate
William Abley COLLINS of Bryntirion and of the Savings Bank both in Knighton, Radnorshire, died 1st December 1920. Probate at Hereford, 10th January 1921 to Amy Maxwell Collins, widow, and William Lawton Davies Collins, Bank Clerk. Effects £3403 12s 2d.
William Lawton Davies Collins was the son of William and Amy.
The Act of 1881 superseded The licensing act of 1872 in its relation to the Lord's Day.
Returns from magistrates, police authorities, and others, to a circular of enquiries issued by the Lord's Day Observance Society, December, 1873"
THE QUESTIONS.
1. What are the hours fixed by the Licensing Justices of your district for opening and closing Public Houses and Beer Shops on the Lord's- day ?
2. Have you perceived any general good results from the greater limitation of open hours on the Lord's-day ?
3. Has intoxication on the Lord's-day in your opinion decreased under the operation of the Act, or been less than would have been the case without the new limitation ?
4. Is the neighbourhood quieter and more orderly on the Lord's- day, than before the new Act ?
5. How do the Working Men and Labouring Classes regard the greater restriction ?
6. What do the Wives of Labouring Men think of it ?
7. Have efforts been made to secure any relaxation of its strictness by Publicans ?
8. Have efforts been made by the general public to secure relaxation of its strictness ?
9. Have any efforts been made to secure the maximum of restriction allowed by the Act on the Lord's-day ?
10. Would you wish to see any alteration in the regulations of the Act as to the Lord's-day ; and if so, what changes do you propose?
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Joseph F. Wheeldon, Chief Constable
The hours are fixed according to the 24th clause of the Licensing Act (**), except Knighton Petty Sessional District, where they at 9 p.m.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
I have heard of no complaints.
They appreciate it.
No.
No.
No.
Yes. I would suggest that public-houses are closed altogether on the Lord's-day.
(**) 24th clause of the Licensing Act 1872
"that no order allowing licensed premises to remain open after the hour of ten at night on Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday, or after the hour of eleven at night on other days, shall, as to such allowance, apply to premises in respect of which a certificate is in force under "The Wine and Beerhouse Acts, 1869 and 1870."
The Act would not be repealed until 1961, when each county was charged with holding a referendum on Sunday opening, to gauge support in their particular area.
While urban districts such as Swansea, Cardiff and Merthyr ditched the ban at the earliest possible opportunity, many rural and Welsh-speaking counties held on to "dry" Sundays.
Dwyfor - now part of Gwynedd - was the last district to drop the ban in 1996.
A vote was taken every 7 years on whether the ban should stay. This continued even after the lifting of the last ban in 1996.
Written by: Samantha McClary for the Caterer Tuesday, 22nd July 2003
"Under the old rules, if at least 500 registered voters in any Welsh county or borough requested it, the local authority had to hold ballots in which people voted whether or not alcohol should be sold there on a Sunday."
The law on whether votes should be taken was finally abolished in 2003.